All Blog Posts (99)

A High Court case coming down the tracks promises to shed some light on the mysterious internal workings of the Church of Scientology in Ireland, which is being sued for €100,000 by a former member who is alleging 'fraud', 'undue influence', 'misrepresentation,' and 'infliction of emotional distress.' The Scientologists are contesting the allegations and are represented by Dublin solicitors, Noel Smyth & Partners.…

Early this week the FBI received a formal complaint against Scientology, citing several alleged crimes, including, but not limited to exploitation of a handicap, interstate deceptive telemarketing, misleading marketing practices, fraud, and conspiracy to commit fraud. This complaint followed on the heels of a recent report filed with the Canada Competition Bureau for similar alleged crimes over a twelve year period.

FORMER members of the Church of Scientology will hold a conference in Dublin next month to highlight the impact the movement has on followers.

The organiser is Pete Griffiths, a former director of an English Scientology mission, who says he has informed police at Dublin airport Scientologists may stage protests there against speakers arriving for the event.

Mike Rinder, a former chief spokesman for Scientology, claims when he came to Ireland in October he was…

Recent and credible information received from a few places across Canada, indicates that Narconon Trois-Rivieres (OSA – COS), mounted a campaign to fight as hard as possible and inundate the Ministry of Health and Social Services with volumes of PR letters from Staff, ex staff and Narconon ex-students. Also to another…

A FRENCH appeals court has upheld fraud charges and a €600,000 fine against the Church of Scientology for cajoling followers into paying large sums for bogus personality tests and cures.

Rejecting the church’s appeal against a 2009 ruling, the court said two French branches of the US-based organisation were guilty of “organised fraud” and gave four of its leaders suspended jail sentences of up to two years.

First of all I am still very new to all of this and i do not know as much as people like TheMadHair or Spete. But here is why I do it.

Reason one: The amounts of deaths that have been happening. One that is most well known is the one about a woman called Lisa McPherson. She was a member of the church and when she got in to a car crash she was not that bad phisicly but mentaly she was very shaken. When at…

The Church of Scientology is appealing a French court ruling that found it guilty of fraud for fleecing vulnerable followers and fined it hundreds of thousands of euros.

The 2009 conviction saw Scientology's Celebrity Centre and its bookshop in Paris, the two branches of its French operations, ordered to pay €600,000 in fines for preying financially on several followers in the 1990s.

Arriving for the hearing at a Paris court today, the group's spokesman, Eric…

REVENUES HAVE plummeted at the Irish branch of the controversial Church of Scientology, which remains deep in the red. Membership of the worldwide church, established in 1954, includes movie stars such as Tom Cruise and John Travolta. However, documents show that interest-free loans from abroad are propping up the Irish branch, which is more than €688,000 in the red in its latest accounts.

According to financial documents lodged by the Church of Scientology Mission of…

THE Church of Scientology in Dublin could be struck off for failing to file company accounts, the Irish Mail on Sunday can reveal.

The Irish office has failed to file accounts for 2009, which were due in January 2010. Last year's accounts are now also late and a strike-off notice was sent to the church's directors on June 3. If accounts are not filed within two months, the church's assets will be transferred to the State.

Perhaps a dangerous cult of dichotomies would explain some of the puzzling contradictions at this Canadian Rehab treatment facility. The ongoing controversy over the Narconon Rehab being secular, religious, or holistic, may continue on for decades, but the Scientology staff’s actions, point a clear… Continue

A recent campaign in Dublin advertised courses run by the Scientology movement. Members past and present tell Cian Traynor about their experiences of the organisation. Does it bring the promised prosperity, intelligence and freedom, or simply exploit the vulnerable?

‘When job security turns into insecurity,” ran a recent ad on the Dart, in Dublin, “attend a course in Scientology.” The accompanying photographs feature men and women looking stressed or dejected. The course advertised… Continue

Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard would have been 100 on Sunday. He has left behind a controversial legacy, says Jonathan de Burca Butler

This Sunday, one hundred years ago, the founder of one of the world's most contoversial religions was born in Nebraska. L Ron Hubbard founded The Church of Scientology - an organisation which for the last 60 years of its existence has attracted criticism and praise in equally strong measure.

From the Church of Scientology in Montreal, Jean Lariviere refers Narconon Trois-Rivieres Director, Sylvain Fournier to, “Please check what LRH says about dealing with a Black Panther!” A Rush-Urgent was titled in the subject. LRH is non-other than the science fiction writer, Ron L. Hubbard, the founder of the Church of Scientology.

For Scientology-Narconon in Canada to retain their registered charitable status, I suggest they be subject to a compulsory benefits test. Does this charitable treatment center benefit our society or do the harms far outweigh the good? A senate Hearing in Ottawa may… Continue